June 2, 2009

The Triumph of Narrative

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Ta-Nehisi Coates isn’t too happy with a new HBO documentary that tries to puncture the mythology surrounding Muhammad Ali:

The core problem with this doc, as it is with most correctives, is that it subscribes to the same sort of moralistic, heavy-handed, simple-minded logic that it allegedly seeks to debunk. Thus while the public image of Ali as this gleaming unvarnished hero is ridiculous, Thrilla‘s answer is to offer an equally ridiculous image of Ali as a scheming villain who didn’t really win the two fights against Frazier, and robbed him of his rightful place as the greatest of all time.

I have a long post in mind about our (seemingly) increasing addiction to simplistic narratives and the (seemingly) increasing difficulty in finding writers who even try to avoid it these days.  But since I haven’t written it yet, you won’t have to suffer through it right now.  Maybe someday, though.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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